Milikapiti is a village on the northern coast of
Melville Island,
Northern Territory
The Northern Territory (commonly abbreviated as NT; formally the Northern Territory of Australia) is an states and territories of Australia, Australian territory in the central and central northern regions of Australia. The Northern Territory ...
,
Australia
Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...
. At the
2011 census, Milikapiti had a population of 447.
It is by air from
Darwin.
Fly Tiwi
Fly Tiwi is an Australian airline based in Darwin, Northern Territory, offering scheduled passenger services between the Northern Territory capital and communities located on the Tiwi, South Goulburn and Croker islands, as well as a number o ...
airlines fly twice daily to and from Darwin servicing Milikapiti. The flight takes approximately 25 minutes.
The day-to-day management of the Milikapiti community is the responsibility of the Tiwi Islands Regional Council.
History
Milikapiti was founded in the 1941 as the Snake Bay government aboriginal settlement.
In 1942, aboriginals from Snake Bay captured Australia's first
Japanese
Japanese may refer to:
* Something from or related to Japan, an island country in East Asia
* Japanese language, spoken mainly in Japan
* Japanese people, the ethnic group that identifies with Japan through ancestry or culture
** Japanese diaspor ...
prisoner of war
A prisoner of war (POW) is a person who is held captive by a belligerent power during or immediately after an armed conflict. The earliest recorded usage of the phrase "prisoner of war" dates back to 1610.
Belligerents hold prisoners of wa ...
, Sergeant
Hajime Toyoshima
Petty Officer was a Japanese airman in World War II. His A6M Zero was the first of that type (after those recovered after the attack on Pearl Harbor) to be recovered relatively intact on Allied territory when he crash landed on Melville Island ...
, who crash-landed on Melville Island after his plane was damaged while bombing
Darwin. The
Snake Bay Patrol
The Snake Bay Patrol was an auxiliary reconnaissance unit made up of Indigenous Australian residents of Melville Island in the Northern Territory that was raised by the Royal Australian Navy during World War II. After the first bombing raid on Dar ...
was also formed from local Indigenous Australians during World War II.
Community services and facilities
* Store and Take Away
* ATM facilities
* Post Office facilities
* School and Pre School
* Recreation Hall
* Basketball court
* Football oval
* Library
* Centrelink agency
* Women's Centre
* Health Centre
* Club (open 4.30pm – 7.30pm 4 days per week)
* Public Garage
* St Monica's Catholic Church
* Museum
* Jilamara Arts and Crafts
Notes and references
{{authority control
Towns in the Northern Territory
Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory
Tiwi Islands
1941 establishments in Australia